Why does this keep happening to meee!!! :(

So my CRS and CBS tanks have been doing so well the last few months. Lots of berried, about 100+ babies from those berried and quickly after giving birth the moms would get berried again. There are berried SSS's as I am typing this, but here is the problem.

Since about 2 weeks ago, the heatwave finally got to my tanks I believe. About 5pm the sun would set in my room and really heat my room up. Even with the fan on a thermostat to turn on at 74F, I experienced my tank topping off at 78F sometimes. I would quickly turn the AC on at full blast and the tank would be down to 74F or below within an hour or two.

During this two weeks, I have shrimps dying left and right in both of my tanks. Probably 80 newborns have died, at least a 20-30 adults. The deaths are weird though, it's all after a molt. No signs of bacteria infection though. No cloudiness before dying, not missing anything, just really random!

Because of the massive death, the planaria problem that I have been trying to keep in control got way out of hand. Some are as big as this now ===== Gross!

What could be so wrong all of the sudden? Nothing's changed. I only do a 10% WC once every 2 weeks for tank stability.

What's the GH/KH on the tank? I've kept CRS/CBS/Goldens at 76-78 degrees in the past and have not noted any deaths though a rapid swing in temp might cause problems. If they are all dying after molting it sounds like they may be too weak to pull through the molt which makes me think GH or KH playing a part.

sorry to hear of the loss. your active substrate maybe past its prime...

The ADA soil I have is about 7 months old now. Been doing 100% RO water changes throughout so it should still buffer. Or at least I hope

Quote:

Originally Posted by ravensgate

What's the GH/KH on the tank? I've kept CRS/CBS/Goldens at 76-78 degrees in the past and have not noted any deaths though a rapid swing in temp might cause problems. If they are all dying after molting it sounds like they may be too weak to pull through the molt which makes me think GH or KH playing a part.

I haven't checked for GH and KH for awhile since I check that with a TDS pen now. "Perfect" GH and KH would mean the TDS is 125. That is GH of 4/5 and KH of 0. Right now my TDS is 140ppm so it shouldn't have changed that much, but great point, I'll need to check that again just to be sure. Yeah it's so weird because the shrimps are doing super super well and just bammmm! The heat got to them and they started dying non-stop.

I spoted a couple BKK babies and a Shadow Panda babie just about a week ago too! Can't find them anymore :/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soothing Shrimp

Offhand it sounds either like a gh problem or planeria problem.

The planaria got worse because of all the dead shrimps. Made them got bigger and multiplied MUCH faster. Before I would spot 1-2 during feeding, now dozens! ERRR!!!

'Perfect' in what way, based on your remineralizer??? Cause on my tanks with GH 5 and KH 0 my TDS runs 170-180 due to the remineralizer I use. That's the number of what the tank is at. When I remineralize the water in the jugs, it's GH 5, KH 0, TDS 135. Time to test my friend, just to be sure. I understand the relationship with GH/KH/TDS but it doesn't keep me from testing every two weeks to err on the side of caution. I've had an issue with my GH creeping up and I finally figured it out but because of that I will be testing a lot more frequently than I have been. TDS wasn't giving me enough info or I would have been catching the increase since I test TDS every other day in my tanks.

For me it is bacterial problem. It strikes because of the high temp. Planaria is sign for unused food.
Bacteria will grow fast in high temp + food. I would try Melafix + Pimafix in order to reduce
bacteria amount……..Or if there is a lot of uneaten food during of rotten process a lot of O2 is needed, so oxygen level can be low. But you have to feed a lot.

Sorry to hear the bad news, but I also had shrimp deaths these past couple weeks. I assume 3 of my adults died because of the summer heat we've been having in San Diego these past couple weeks and hopefully it isn't a bacterial infection of some sort. I haven't done a water change since the day I got them I've only been topping off and most of my babies from the first batch are little pee wees now and the second batch of babies are starting to show color I'm praying for my live stock to make it to the Fall and everything should be dandy. Hope you get everything fixed with your shrimp tank!

I am with plamski high temp will cause bacteria out brake. It happened to me in the past with CRS CBS you need to keep the temp low and steady. To avoid bacteria I keep my tanks at 73-74.
I don’t trust TDS meters I test my gH with every water change to make sure it is where I need it before adding new water.

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